—Manuel Muñoz, The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue

Homocide Survivors Picnic heralds a fine new American sensibility. Elegance, not shock and despair, depicts lives touched by murder, abuse, divorce, and uncertainty. López’s delicate and affirmative prose balances the harsh subject matter perfectly. We are moved by her characters' difficult dilemmas without being traumatized by their experiences. Lovely in form and expansive in content, this collection is a gift to storytellers.

—Lynn Pruett, Ruby River

Homicide Survivors Picnic is an enthralling, offbeat collection of stories from a writer with a unique ability to penetrate the human psyche. My favorites were “Flood” and “Landscape,” interconnected stories about childless Lydia who cares for her precocious four-year-old niece Roxanne; “Human Services,” in which Rita rents out one side of her duplex to Beto, her loser of an ex-husband; “Women Speak,” a remarkable reflection on how and why women should demand more from their lives; and “The Threat of Peace,” in which Stewart, the conflict mediator, falls for Guadalupe who thrives on getting in everybody’s face. Truly, each story in this collection is a pleasure to read for the tightly crafted storytelling, for the strength and complexity of each character, and for the unique setting from the South, of these mostly, but not entirely, Latino characters who will be unforgettable to readers.

—Sergio Troncoso, The Last Tortilla & The Nature of Truth